Singer/songwriter David Mead certainly has the talent to be a viable commodity
in the pop music world. The problem is, while he’s only 30, he’s an old soul,
drawing more inspiration from Paul McCartney and Paul Simon than Rob Thomas and
Rob Zombie. His two albums for RCA were filled with the kind of expertly crafted
guitar pop that would have made much more sense in 1987 than they did in today’s
rough and rude times. His 2001 album, Mine and Yours, was even produced
by Fountains of Wayne co-captain Adam Schelsinger, and sports a title track that
was one of the
best songs
of that year. Both albums were critics’ darlings and, naturally, commercial
disasters.
However, that which does not kill us may make us bitter, but in most cases, it
also makes us better. Acknowledging that pop is a young man’s game (insert your
own “Logan’s Run” joke here), Mead checked out of New York, moved back to his
native Nashville, switched record labels and made the splendid Indiana.
The textures may be softer – there’s enough acoustic and pedal steel guitar in
here for a Loretta Lynn box set – but his knack for a pop hook is as sharp as
ever, with a title track that plays like an imaginary duet between Marshall
Crenshaw and the Everly Brothers. Stately ballads like “Beauty” and the bouncy
“Oneplusone” serve as a bridge between his guitar pop albums and the kinder,
gentler Mead of today, but it’s his cover of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature”
that will likely draw the most attention, for better or worse. Mead is five
years older than Jackson was when he first recorded the song, but Mead’s
performance exudes an acceptance in just letting things be that Jackson, to this
day, still doesn’t understand. In the end, it’s a sweet rendition, but not
without a trace of sadness.
Indiana is the work of a man who is clearly more interested in playing
for the people who already appreciate him than he is bending over backwards for
the masses who will likely ignore him anyway. It’s a harsh lesson for any
musician to learn, to be sure, but one that all too few artists learn with the
grace that Mead shows here.
~David Medsker
dmedsker@bullz-eye.com
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